Barely thirteen, Jeremy James Johansen has had more than his share of trouble. His father disappeared without a trace and the police believe he murdered his lab assistant, though his son knows it isn’t true. His dad can’t even handle a knife, let alone a bow and arrow.
A year later Jeremy stumbles across a portal to another world and gets pulled through—but not as himself. Somehow he swaps bodies with the man on the other side before the portal disappears.
Captured by a dragon and a man in black who insists on calling him father, he tries to escape, only to plummet to his death. He awakens in his own bed, believing it was all a bad dream. The problem is there are holes in his memory he can’t fill.
In time, he discovers that the portal holds the answers not only to his forgotten memories, but most importantly, points him down the path to finding his father.
I really enjoyed this book! It was fine, light, and replete with fun and awesome adventures.
Sure, it didn't tax my brain, but it absolutely tickled my funny bone! I could picture 11 year old son (a very reluctant reader) reading and loving this book. In fact, I've already passed it on to him!
If you or your child (boys and girls will enjoy this book) love fun adventures with humor and amazing creatures, you'll love TEENAGE WIZARD. It would also be the perfect book to read with your kids because the dialogue and circumstances would lend themselves really well to be read out loud.
This is a great new addition to the middle-grade books that are out there. I know that my 2nd graders are going to love it,as well as my own kids. Great job Karen!!
Jeremy Johansen (JJ) sorely misses his Dad ever since he disappeared a year ago. As he is walking through the woods on the way back home from his Grandmother's house his sister scares the heck out of him and as a result he runs right up against a portal to another world. As he reaches through the portal he is drawn through into an adventure he could never have begun to imagine. As he wakes up the next day he finds that he is now sharing his body with Mathias, a mage from the world he viewed through the portal. As he tries to get used to the fact that there are now two souls in one body he must also figure out how he is going to rescue his Dad from this other world. The challenges he faces are many, beginning with , how to explain all of this to his mother and his twin sister Jessie.
I found this story to be quite enjoyable, especially in the interactions between JJ and Jessie. There relationship was quite enjoyable to watch, as they give each other a hard time when possible, yet they also find each other to be their best ally and confidante when necessary. There were so many characters in the story who turned out to be more than what I expected that it's surprising that I didn't figure some of them out sooner. One of my favorite character's is JJ's Grandmother. Rather than being the stereotypical old lady who is aware of very little, she is an unflappable woman who isn't surprised by anything.
This book may certainly be enjoyed by boys and girls alike. I found the first few chapters a bit dry, requiring me to plod through them. Once I got beyond that point the story flowed so fluidly that I found myself having a hard time putting it down. At 263 pages this book does take some time to get through but it was well worth the time spent. I'm already looking forward to the next installment in the series as I need to know what happens next.
Jeremy was a fun and believable character. He has hopes and dreams, but lots of flaws and problems too. When he ends up going to the other world and swaps bodies with a magician there, the description of a boy's soul or consciousness inside an old man's body really made sense. He couldn't run like he used to 'cause things hurt. Karen really did a good job making me believe Jeremy was really experiencing something completely foreign to him but possible nonetheless. Then since he plummets to his death in that old body he returns to his own, but the soul of the magician (who was in Jeremy's body) has no place to return so he stays with Jeremy's body. I loved how Karen had the two struggle to come to terms with this yet it didn't ever get over the top or strange.
I loved the magic in this story. Magic in the other world is completely normal, and science is top order in our/Jeremy's world, but Jeremy begins to use magic in our world since the magician sharing his consciousness teaches him about the possibilities out there. It was fun to have two worlds to go back and forth between and Karen did a good job keeping me guessing on what was going on while still giving me enough information I could piece things together to understand what would come next. Besides dragons, there were shapeshifters, Pegasus, and other mythical creatures.
I'm looking forward to the next in the series since she left it off in such a way that Jeremy is still in some trouble, but I have hopes things will work out well for him.
Barely thirteen, Jeremy James Johansen has had more than his share of trouble. His father disappeared without a trace and the police believe he murdered his lab assistant, though his son knows it isn’t true. His dad can’t even handle a knife, let alone a bow and arrow.
A year later Jeremy stumbles across a portal to another world and gets pulled through—but not ...moreBarely thirteen, Jeremy James Johansen has had more than his share of trouble. His father disappeared without a trace and the police believe he murdered his lab assistant, though his son knows it isn’t true. His dad can’t even handle a knife, let alone a bow and arrow.
A year later Jeremy stumbles across a portal to another world and gets pulled through—but not as himself. Somehow he swaps bodies with the man on the other side before the portal disappears.
Captured by a dragon and a man in black who insists on calling him father, he tries to escape, only to plummet to his death. He awakens in his own bed, believing it was all a bad dream. The problem is there are holes in his memory he can’t fill.
In time, he discovers that the portal holds the answers not only to his forgotten memories, but most importantly, points him down the path to finding his father.(less)
The book began just fine, even though the bully vs good guy has been over-used in the genre as an opening scene. I was willing to look past that because the voice was strong and the character likeable. The problems started in chapter 2 with the sudden introduction of the mirror. The scene was too forced and didn't fit with the flow of the story. It seemed the author had stopped showing and started telling. I was completely lost at the beginning of Chapter 3, unsure what had just happened, and not in a way I should have been. The sudden intrusion of boldfaced type warned me that the book was not going to be on par with the others I had already read in the category. Unfortunately, I was right. The book had the potential, but it didn't fully execute. One more hard critique and revision would have made this a much better story.
This book was geared toward a younger age group, and apparently I'm finally out-growing my joy of reading books meant for such people. I'm sure if I had read it earlier, I would have enjoyed it; Karen is an excellent writer, after all.
This is such a fun and unique story. My brain's a little fuzzy now so a proper review just isn't coming, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. A great book for middle grade, YA and adult fantasy lovers!